Air-compressor



(No Model.)

W. A. BABCOGK.

Am GOMPRBSSQR,

Patented July 10, 1883.

Jai-22656.23; f:

Smrrs PATENT Ormes.,

VILLIAM A. BABCOOK, OF SOUTH COVENTRY, CONNECTICUT.

AIR-COMPRESSOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 280,997, dated July 10,1853. Application filed January iS, 1882. (No model.)

1o supply-pipes, and adapted to force or compress air into barrels ofbeer, &c., to expel the liquor therefrom to the beeretaps. Several kindsof such compressors are now made. In some kinds the pumping orair-compressing i vessels, into which thewater rises to compress theair, are mounted on a rocking beam,which sways up and down as thevessels alternately..

iill and empty, while in other cases but one large stationary vessel isused, which incloses` 2o a iloatwhich operates the water inlet andoutlet valves by its rise and fall, so as to at first admit the inow ofwater to compress and en pel the air, and thence shift the valves toallow the outow'of the waste and the inilow of an- 2 5 other charge ofair.

My present improvement relates to the lat' ter class of compressors; andit oonsists,main ly, in the combination, with the inlet and outletvalves and the rocking lever which shifts` 3o them, of a float whichoperates the rocking lever and a spring connected at one end with theswinging end of the rocking lever and fixed at the other end at a pointbeyond the pivot of the lever, whereby the lever is caused 3 5 toenergetically shift the valves by the action of the spring when broughtpast its dead-center by the action of the float.

My improvement also consists in the special construction .of thewater-inletand air-inletl 4o valves, and in details connected with thevalve mechanism, and in other features, as hereinafter fully set forth.

Figure l of the drawings annexed presents a longitudinal section of myimproved aircompressor; and Fig. 2 presents a cross-see tion thereof online x looking to the left.

In the drawings, a. c indicate the chamber or casing of the pump, whichis adapted to form a stationary air and water tight tank or 5o vessel,with, of course, suitable valveinlets and outlets. This vessel orchamber may be constructed of metal, glass, porcelain, or any otherbrass, in two sections, c c', the lower one bting in shape that of ashallow tray, with sup porting-legs b Z; and a flange, c, to meet with asimilar ilange, c', on the upper section, a, by which the two sectionsare firmly secured together, a packing being introduced between theilanges. The base is formed with a depression or pocket, e, at the end,in which the iioat moves, to allow said iioat to descend fully. Thesection a is tapering in form, as seen in Fig. 2, and is abruptlynarrowed at the top, j ust above the water-line, for a purpose hereinafter stated. moves, however, the section a is enlarged and terminatesin a dome, f, to give room for the ascent of the iloat, as representedin Fig. 1 and by dotted lines in Fig. 2, but these particular shapes arenot essential. On the bottom ofthe lower section, c, is affixed anupright hollow post, g, which forms the casing of the water-inlet valve,and is perforated with a vertical bore or port, y', which coincides witha holethrough the base, with which the watersupply pipe k connects, asseen in Figs. l and 2. The port g does not rise quite through the post,but is intersected near the top by a horizontalbore, g, which extendsclear through the post, and in which is arranged a nicelyttingcylindrical rod or sliding valve-plunger, t', which plunger, when drawninward past the intersection of the port g', opens the waterway, as seenin Fig. l., and permits the water to flow into the chamber c c to expelthe air therefrom, while when the plunger is slid outward past theintersection of the port g2 the watenway is closed and the flow into thechamber stopped, as will be understood. It will be noted that the port gexpands into a cavity or recess around the plunger at the intersectionwith the bore g, as seen in section in Fig. 1 and dotted line in Fig. 2,thus allowing the waterpressnre to bear on all .sides of the plun ger,and thereby rendering it always balanced in its seat, whereby its motionbecomes very easy and frictionless. A slot, f', is cut into the top ofthe post through the bore y, to reduce the amount of the bore encirclingthe plunger, and also permit any grain of sand or dirt which might getbetween the plunger suitable material; but I prefer to make it of castAt the end in which the oat into two branches, Z, which straddle ordepend and the bore to soon iind its escape atthe slot by the motion ofthe plunger, thus enabling the valve to clean itself more readily andpreventing grinding or cutting.

The valve-plunger Z' is connected by a link or connecting-rod, h, withthe upright arm of an elbow-lever, s, pivoted near the base of thechamber, and fitted on its horizontal arm with a valve-disk, s', whichcovers the waste or eX- haust loutlet s, thus constituting theexhaustvalve. It will thus be seen that the water-in! let and thewaste-outletV valves are directly connected together by theconnecting-rod h, so that when the connectingrod is moved to the leftthe exhaust-valve is closed and the waterdnlet simultaneously opened, asseenl in Fig. 1, and when moved to the right the exhaust-valve will beopened and the watervalve closed, as will be understood. The valves arethus operated by a rocking lever, Z, and float m when actuated by therise and fall of the water in the chamber, as willnow appear. Thisrocking lever Z is trunnioned between two standards, n, which rise fromthebottom of the chamber on either side of the connectingrod h, as fullyshown vin Figs. 1i and 2. The long arm of this lever Z projects upward,while its short arm projects downward, and is forked on either side of alug, h, projecting laterally from the connecting-rod h, sufficientplay'being allowed between the branches Z and the lug to allow therocking lever to be raised to and a little beyond its dead center beforeeither prong will closely approach the lug, as seen in Fig. 1. The leverm ofthe ball-float m is trunnioned in the standards n n just below therocking lever Z, as seen best in Fig. 1, and the trunnioned end isforked into two branches, which project on either side of the rockinglever Z, and are provided with setscrews m, which may be adjustedl to orfrom the lever, so as to regulate the amount of play between them, aswill be understood. Now, to the tip of the long arm of the rocking leveris fastened one end of along spiral spring, p, the lowerend of which visconnected with a pin projecting from the standards n in positionvertically under the trunnions of the rocking lever and in line with thelever when on its dead-center, as seen in Fig. 1. This arrange-I ment ofspring is duplicated on the opposite side of the lever, as seen in Fig.2, so as to balance vthe lateral strain on the lever and make the devicemore effective, as will be appreciated.

It will now be readily understood from the previous description, and byreference to the drawings, that the mechanism is such that if thechamber be empty of vwater the iloat will be down and the rocking leverinclined to the right and the valves in the position shown in Fig. 1.The water will thus iiow into the chamair-outlet r. The air-outletisVcovered by a collapsible or slit rubber valve, r', which opens into thenipple r, from which the compressed air is conducted by a connected tubeto the beer-barrels orother vessels, as will be understood, and whichvalve, of course, closes against the back-pressure and prevents thereturn of the compressed air to the pump-chamber. As the iioat riseswith the water it also raises the rocking leverl Z toits uprightposition,r at the same time straining the springs p p, and the parts arevvsoadjusted, that by the time the water hasarisen tofitsfull height, asseen'in Fig. 1, the., y'atlex'eii will vhave brought the rocking levr'to its dead-center, or just a little beyond it", as seen jin' Fig; 1,and hence just as the lever passes -its -deadcenter the spring will nowreact andV pull it quickly and energetically tothe left, causing one ofthe branches on its forked"4 end lto strike the lug h on theconnecting-.rod of the valves, and thus shift theivalves vso fas' tovopen the exhaust outlet and closethe water-inlet; Consequently the waterwill 'now'run out of the chamber through the outlet s, and at the sametime atmospheric air will enter at the top` through the vent-valve T. Asthe float descends it will shift the` rocking leverl in thel oppositeposition, and as the float approaches the end of its descent it willlbring the rocking lever past its dead-center, to the right, where thesprings 1o p will now act to pull it'forcibly over to lthe right, andthus shift the valves inthe opposite direction, closing the exhaust andyopening the water-inlet, when the former actions will be repeated.

It will-now be noted that at the point where the water has risen to itsfull height in the chamber and has raised the float into the position:to shift the valves, as seen in Fig. 1 the upper part of the chamberwill still contain a small quantity of compressed air, whose pressurewill bear upon the exhaust-valve and offer f considerable resistance toits opening. Just at this point, however, this compressed air is allowedto escape through the relief-vent o, which is opened by the' rising ofthe float against the long end' of the lever n, pivoted in the top ofthe chamber,'and carrying a valvedisk on its short arm to control thevento,- as shown, therebyy removing the pressure from the exhaust-valveand allowing the valves to be shifted easily by the action ofthe rockinglever and its springs. The top of the pumpchamber, above thewater-level, ishence made narrow, as before described, and shown in Fig.2, so as to reduce as much as possible the amount ofcompressed'air'which. is thus allowed to escape. As soon as the'iioatdescends, however, the relief-valve o immediately closes, as willbeunderstood, and the air is drawn in through the vent-valve T, tosupply the place ofthe outflowing water, as before described. Thisvent-valve has a simple and efficient construction, as may be nowobserved. It consists of .a metal block or'disk, t', screwed into thetop of the pump-chamber and bored with IOO IIO

tivo parallel holes, c fv', the one, o, extending clear through, and theother, c, but partly through, and interseoted by a lateral bore, n,which opens into the air. Into this hole'fv is dropped a small rubberpuppet or check valve of the shape shown, and onto the top of the blockis screwed an air-tight cap, t, which forms a stop to limit the rise ot'the valve t and a passage between the holes o and 1o e. It will hence beobservedfthat When the Water runs out of the pump-chamber theatmospheric air Will enter through the bore fu" and fu, lift the puppett, and thence iioW down the bore 'o' into the pump-chamber.

I 5 The comp ressed-air outlet 1" is formed throng the top of aninverted cap or thiinble, w, which is tightly secured onthe top of thedome f of the pump-chamber, and in this thimbleis inclosed a buoyantball-valve,.y. This ball normally rests on the top-of the dome andleavesthe airbutlet o' unobstructed, the compressed air being thus free topass from the pumpchamber through openings y on either side of the ball,and thence out through-the outlet and valve r 1". In case, however, theWater should ever rise in the pump-chamber beyond its usual height or upto the ball y, this ball will thence float up and close the air-outleto', lthus preventing the possibility of the Water being forced out withthe compressed air into the beenbarrels or other vessels.

By these combined features I am enabled t form a simple, compact, andreliable air-compressor, and one in which the important part simple inconstruction and quick and certain in a Weighted lever or invertedpendulum is used.

toshift the valves, instead of the spring-lever shown, the weighted endof the lever cannot be submerged, as the Weight would lthen lose a greatportion of its effective gravity, and, furthermore, its motions would beresisted greatly by the Water. The Weight, to be effective, has hence tobe placed at the top of the lever, above the water-level, and this inthe Water, with a special dome or chamber for the-Weight to swing in.This construction therefore not only requires a larger case, but alsocauses the waste oi a large percentageof air at each action of the pump,for the increased air-space at the top represents exactly acorresponding increase of loss in the compressed air, in the same waythat alarge clearof the valve mechanism is rendered peculiarly turnrequires that the case be made high above.

ance in an engine-cylinder would represent a large loss of the motiveiluid at each exhaust. 65

By the combination, however, ofthe spring or springs with the valvemechanism shown, this loss, together with the other obj ect-ions named,

is completely obviated, and a material improvement is thereby effectedin pumps of 7o this class.

W'hat I claim is- 1. In a hydraulic air -pump substantially such asdescribed, the combination, with a pump-chamber and with a valve orvalves to control the iiow of Water into and out of the same, of therocking lever Z, iioat m mf, and spring p, arranged and operatingsubstantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The post or casing g, formed with abore, g, extending through thesame, and with a port, g', connected with the Water-supply, intersectingthe bore g" and extending around A it, in combination with a slidingplunger, t', fitted to the bore g, and arranged to move to 8 5 and froin the same, so as to retire Within the bore and uncover the port topermit the inflow and project through the bore and cover the port tostop the iniiow, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

8. The combination, with the sliding plunger @of the valve-casing g,formed with a bore in which said plunger is fitted, an induction-v port,g', intersecting said bore, and a lateral relief-slot, f, extending intosaid casiug,across 95 the'bore, and between the end of the casing,through which the plunger protrudes, and the port g', substantially asand for the purposeY set forth.

4. The air-vent valve T, consisting of the roo block t', formed with theports o o c", in combination with the check or puppet valve tand cap t,substantially as herein shown and described.

5. In a hydraulic air-pump, the elbow-lever 105 s, having one arm actingas the exhaust-valve, in-combination with the connecting-rod h,connected at one end to the other arm of the elbow-lever, and with awater-inlet valve, i, connected with the opposite end of the con- 11onecting-rod, and with suitable means for operating the rod It and thevalves there-With connected, substantially as herein shown anddescribed.

6. In a hydraulic air-puuip, the combina- I i 5 tion of theconnecting-rod 71., having the pro-. jection h, and arranged tooperatively connect the water inlet and outlet valves, with the forkedrocking lever l and mechanism for rocking the same, substantially asherein shown I 2O and described.

NVM. A. BABCOCK.

Vitnesses:

Fnnnnnion NUenN'r, Giras. M. HIGGINS.

